Free Skin Deep by J.M. Stone Page A

heard twin gasps come from the other side
of the table. I turned my head and found Allie and Brandon both
staring at me, Allie’s jaw hanging open and Brandon grinning
widely.
    I closed my eyes and dropped my head to the
table. I couldn’t believe I had just done that.
    I felt a heavy arm drape itself around my
shoulders, pulling me in close to a hard, warm body. I raised my
eyes and found Luke’s face close to mine. He smiled at me, pulled
me back from the table, and tucked me into his side.
    Allie’s shrill voice turned my attention back
across the table and I watched as Brandon slid his hand over to my
drink and smoothly pulled it back before draining it, Allie
shrieking in indignation and slapping at him.
    “Brandon, you dickhead, that’s two drinks you
owe us. Get your ass up to the bar!” Allie was yelling at him, all
the while shoving him off the edge of the booth. She managed to
push him out completely and followed him towards the bar,
presumably to make sure he actually replaced our drinks.
    “Miss me?” Luke’s voice rasped in my ear.
    I quirked my eyebrow at him, refusing to
answer. He smiled a slow, secretive smile.
    “Okay, then, who’s Bushzilla?”
    Oh, hell no! Not touching that one with a
twenty foot pole!
    I shrugged, then asked, “What about the shop?
Aren’t you busy on Saturday nights?”
    “Yeah, usually. I got a couple other people
that work part time sometimes. Brandon and I decided to grab some
dinner real quick and saw you. Couldn’t resist a chance to do
this-” and he kissed me. Hard, deep, lots of tongue.
    I was lost in a daze when he finally pulled
back from my lips but the catcalls and whistles rippling through
the bar around us broke through, causing my cheeks to heat.
    Allie and Brandon returned from the bar, each
carrying two drinks. Allie had the replacement margaritas for us,
and the guys had beers. I snagged mine from Allie, gulping it down
quickly, which earned me another quizzical look from Luke, a grin
and high-five from Brandon, and a kick under the table from
Allie.
    While we, well, they , were finishing
their drinks, Luke and Brandon grabbed menus to look over. The
waitress came over (she must have been new, because I didn’t know
her) to take their orders, and they both looked over to each of us
and asked if we wanted anything.
    Glancing at my watch, I realized it was
heading towards eight o’clock and I hadn’t had anything since this
morning at Jenna’s.
    “Sure,” I said. “I’ll just take an order of
the pizza rolls. Thanks!”
    I loved the pizza rolls at Griff’s. They
weren’t like the pizza rolls you buy at the store or anything.
These were wonton wrappers filled with pizza sauce, spicy
pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese all wrapped up and deep fried to
ooey-gooey /crispy crunchy perfection! I always had a hard time
deciding between those and the tater poppers, which are these
little shredded potato bundles that are filled with a mixture of
cream cheese and jalapenos and then deep fried. Yum…
    I had intended for the waitress to hear my
order, but apparently she was too caught up in undressing Brandon
with her eyes. Wait…ohmigod! She was staring at Allie! Whoa!
    I heard Luke clear his throat beside me, and
when the waitress blushed and tore her eyes from Allie, he ordered
my pizza rolls for me and a bacon cheeseburger for himself. Brandon
ordered the same, and then Allie ordered an order of tater poppers
(Yes! I get to steal some!). The waitress stuttered through
repeating our orders back to make sure she had them right before
she took off towards the kitchen door behind the bar.
    I didn’t waste any time. “Allison Anne
McCormick, what the hell was that?” I said, laughing.
    “Oh, you know, no big deal. I got pretty
drunk last night running interception for you and maybe
kissed her? Okay, yeah, I kissed her. And apparently laid it on her
good,” she chuckled, winking at me.
    “All right !” Brandon shouted beside
Allie, throwing his hand up